Libretto by the composer
First performed August 17th 1876, Festspielhaus Bayreuth
Sung in German with surtitles
Duration: c. 5 3/4 hrs. with two intervals

About the piece

»Away from the Ring!« With these words, the last after nearly 16 hours, Hagen, the »Niblungen Son«, plunges into the swollen river ...

»Away from the Ring!« With these words, the last after nearly 16 hours, Hagen, the »Niblungen Son«, plunges into the swollen river and is dragged down by the Rhine Maidens. Much comes to an end during the closing of the work. But not all is lost. Siegfried dies. Brünnhilde chooses to join him in death. Gunther is killed. Hagen sinks. The Norns lose their knowledge. Erda remains silent. The gods »appear« to burn. But, for the first time, something like a modern »society« seems to manifest itself. And Alberich – embodiment of the lust for power and lovelessness – lives on: his principles continuing to exist as the opponent to all humanistic intentions.

Synopsis

The Norns prophesy the end of the gods. Siegfried leaves the Ring with Brünnhilde before going off to seek adventure. He meets Alb ...

The Norns prophesy the end of the gods. Siegfried leaves the Ring with Brünnhilde before going off to seek adventure. He meets Alberich’s son Hagen and his half-brother Gunther and half-sister Gutrune. Hagen gives Siegfried a potion to make him forget Brünnhilde and marry Gutrune. Waltraute begs Brünnhilde to return the Ring to the Rhinemaidens but she refuses. Siegfried assumes Gunther’s form with the help of the Tarnhelm, takes the Ring from her and brings her back as Gunther’s future bride. When Brünnhilde, unrecognised by Siegfried, sees the Ring on his hand she accuses him of treachery. She, Hagen and Gunther now plan Siegfried’s death. Siegfried, out hunting, meets the Rhinemaidens who beg him to return the Ring. Hagen and Gunther ask him to tell them about his adventures. Hagen gives him another magic potion and his love for Brünnhilde returns. Hagen kills him and his body is brought back to the Gibichungs. Hagen kills Gunther during an argument about the Ring. Brünnhilde orders a funeral pyre to be built, takes the Ring from Siegfried’s finger and rides with her horse Grane into the flames.